Supporting means for sliding door track rails



Aug. 2, 1932. J. A.'DRIES SUPPORTING MEANS FOR SLIDING DOOR TRACK RAILSL Filed March 8, 1932 Mannin /an? Patented Aug. 2, 1932 Application filed March 8,

' and adjacent parts of the structure.

Another object of the invention is to provide a supporting means for a sliding door track rail, which may be readily attached to a carrying body without the necessity of s 20 making extensive alterations in the latter.

The invention will be best understood from a consideration of the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming part of this speci- 2, fication, with the understanding, however,

that the invention is not confined to any strict conformity with the showing of the drawing but may be changed or modified so long as such changes or modifications mark no ma- 3. terial departure from the salient features of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

In the drawing Figure 1 is a View in transverse section through the top part of a box car at one side thereof showing the structure embodying the present invention, connected therewith.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken substantially upon the line 22 of Figure 1.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing wherein like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the numeral 1 indicates the top rail or beam of the door opening of a box car, the opening being indicated generally at 2.

As is well known the track rail for the door structure, which is here indicated by the numeral 3, is usually secured directly to the 5.0 outer face of the top bar rail or beam 1 so is indicated by the numeral 4. This type of UNITED STATES" PATENTJOFFICE SUPPORTING MEANS F03 SLIDING noon. TRACK units 1932. Serial No. 597,579.

that the door 3 when suspended from the rail will slide across the outer wall of -thecar'inbeing moved to open .or closed position. A track rail of one of the many types employed rail is substantially U-shaped in cross section and is mounted ininverted position and.

has the .loweredges of the side portions provided with inturned flanges 5. upon the top faces of whichwrun the rollers 6 which are housed within the track and which are connected with the topi ed'ge of the door 3 by means of the post 7 which is directly attached to the door, and the roller spindle 8.

In carrying out'the present invention the v outer face of the top beam 1 of the door opening is rut-out or recessed as indicated at; 9 and there is provided a number of tubularv bodies or cylinders 10 which are extended through the beam 1 to-be supported horizontally thereby in the manner shown, the outer end of each of these cylinders 10 being closed by the plate 11 which is counter-sunk in the inner wall of the recess 9 and secured by screws 12 or in any othersuitable manner. 75

Within the cylinder 10 there is positioned a rod 13 which extends through a suitable opening in the plate 11 and has a head 14 upon its outer-end which normally :abuts the plate 11 as illustrated.v I 30 7 The inner endrofthis rod is threaded and has thus connected" therewith the nut 15 which holds in position inthe cylindera coil 'spring16 which surrounds the rod 13. r

The head 14 is provided with a tapped bore 17;which is directed upwardly and which has threadablyengaged therein one end of a vertical pin 18,-the other end of which.v is threaded also and has a nut 19 mounted thereon. 1 y

Surrounding the vertical pin 18 is a sleeve 20 which is integral'with a plate-21 which .iss'ecured in any suitable manner to the track rail 4,1 In actual practice threeor four of the units made up of the cylinder 10, rod 13, pin'18 and sleeve 20, may (be; employed for the support of the trackrail bywhich the car door'is carried. These units constitute the sole connecting means-between .therail and the'door beam'l of the car. It will thus be seen that any vertical buckling of the beam 1 may occur without affecting the rail 4 as when this occurs the sleeve 20 of each unit will shift itself as necessary uponthe adj acent pin 18 and thus retain the track 4 in its straight condition. parent that buckling of the car structure or the beam 1 in a horizontal direction will effect the shifting of the rod 13 of one or more of the units against the tension of the spring 16 by the tendency of the track rail 4: to maintain its straight conditionand will thus allow the rail to maintain itsstraight character.

While in the foregoing description reference has been made solely to the use of the present device upon railway car doors-it will, of course, be understood that the invention is not to be limited to such use for it will be apparent that the same may be advantageously employed in numerous other positions, as

for example', upon warehouse doors or upon sliding doors of ships or other moving bodies which are subject to unusual stresses which It will also be ap signature. 7

JAMES A. DRIES.

might result in the bending or warping of the door supporting beams.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is 1 1; A supporting unit for sliding door track rails comprising an elongated body, a spring controlled reciprocable member carried by said body, a pin member carried by said reciprocable member and extending at right angles therefrom, and a'n element hav ing limited sliding movementfon said pin, said element being designed for connection with a track rail and said body being designed for attachment to a fixed structure above a'door opening. I

2. A sliding door track rail supporting unit comprising a carrier body designed for attachment toa fixed member at the top of a door opening and a pair of elements carried by said carrier body and having relative movement in substantially right angularly related paths, one of said elements being designed for connection with a door track rail.

'3. A supporting unit for the track rail of a sliding door comprising a cylindrical body designed to be mounted horizontallyin a fixed element at the top of a door opening,

an elongated member'reciprocably mounted in said cylinder, resilient means in the cylinder controlling said member to normally urge the same to move in one direction, a pin connected at one end to said member and extending at an angle therefrom, and a member'slidably mounted on said pin and designed to be connected with the track rail of a sliding door. I r

AUA sliding door track rail supporting unit comprising a cylinder, a rod reciprocablyimounted'in the cylinder, spring means within the cylinder and surrounding the rod for normally urging the rod in one direction, 

